China launches probe to collect samples on the moon | International news and analysis | DW



[ad_1]

China launched a space probe on Monday (11/23) to collect material from the lunar surface and then return to Earth. The Chang’e 5 probe mission is the first of its kind since the 1970s.

The probe was launched aboard the Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center in Hainan Province in southern China.

“The spacecraft has accurately entered the previously established orbit. The mission was successfully completed,” said Zhang Xueyu, director of the launch center and head of the mission, quoted by Chinese state television CCTV.

According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, this is one of the “most complex and challenging space missions” that China has ever undertaken.

“The mission will help promote China’s scientific and technological development and establish an important foundation for future manned moon landings,” said the deputy director of the Chinese Space Administration’s Lunar Exploration Center Pei Zhaoyu, quoted by Xinhua.

Chang’e 5 will place several modules on the lunar surface to dig about 2 meters on the lunar surface and collect about 2 kg of rocks and earth. The spacecraft will take two days to reach the surface and the mission will last 23 days, Pei said. The samples are expected to arrive on Earth in a capsule in mid-December in Mongolia.

The mission will make China the third country capable of taking samples of lunar material, after the United States and the former Soviet Union did the same in the 1970s.

According to CCTV, the mission aims to contribute to scientific studies on the formation and evolution of the Moon.

The mission, named after the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e, is among the boldest in China since the country first put a man into space in 2003, becoming the third nation to do so after the United States and Russia. .

In 2019, China’s Chang’e 4 probe was the first to land on the relatively unexplored side of the moon, which is not visible from Earth. It continues to provide comprehensive measurements of radiation exposure from the lunar surface, which are vital for any country planning to send astronauts to the moon.

Last July, China became one of three countries to launch a mission to Mars to look for signs of water on the red planet. Chinese authorities have indicated that the Tianwen 1 space probe is underway to reach Mars around February.

Although the US has closely followed China’s successes in space, it is unlikely to partner with the country, at a time of mounting political tension and distrust, military rivalry and allegations of technology misappropriation.

AS / lusa / efe / ap

.

[ad_2]
Source link